


Extra(curricular)

by applejwoos (kenmarcadeblues)



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: 2park are foodies - fact, Alternate Universe - College/University, Cameos, Eating, Food, Friendship/Love, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slice of Life, big and flared ear appreciation, clubs on campus - freeform, not sure what i'm doing so, wanna one-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-29 13:02:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13927656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenmarcadeblues/pseuds/applejwoos
Summary: The newest club on campus was started by two freshman and is centered around eating. Is it really any wonder that there's only 11 members?Welcome to the story of Wanna Nom and their friends, acquaintances, crushes, and enemies.





	Extra(curricular)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> relevant info:  
> in Korean "cute" is 귀여운 (gwiyeowoon) and "ear" is 귀 (gwi)  
> so the Cute Ear Society is 귀여운 귀 Society (gwiyeowoon gwi society)
> 
> yeah i hope that's helpful  
> but if it's incorrect somehow just let me know. thanks.

“Jihoonie!” Jihoon’s eyes went wide as his head swiveled around confusedly, trying to locate the source of the voice. The noise in the quad was quite overpowering; made up of music blasting from various places and droves of people all speaking at once. “Hey, Jihoonie!”

Finally his eyes met a familiar pair. “Tae-tae hyung! It’s been a while!” Jihoon exclaimed back excitedly. He could scarcely believe his luck. He’d known Kim Taehyung, his favorite high school senior, was going to this university, but due to the large campus, he never got his hopes up of running into him.

  
He quickly weaved his way through a clump of students and stepped in front of the table advertising – wait, was he reading the sign correctly?

“Cute Ear - _Society_?” Jihoon brought a hand over his mouth and laughed in surprise. “Seriously?”

On the other side of the table, Taehyung was grinning proudly. “Yeah! I’m the Recruitment Officer!” He tugged on his ears, each of which now had multiple piercings, and added, “Fun, right?”

Jihoon laughed again. “I’ll say. Didn’t know it was possible to have a club like this. Or that anyone would want to.”

Taehyung shrugged, “We got approved by the Student Council just like everyone else. There’s a Dimple Society too, you know.”

Jihoon voiced his surprise before asking what the Cute Ear Society actually did. Even though it sounded absurd to have a club about a body part, he didn’t want to make assumptions. Taehyung did hold an actual title within it, after all.

“What _don’t_ we do? We have parties, fundraisers for the school, charity events, volunteer work – and a bunch of random shit, too. We made a calendar for this year, look!” Taehyung picked up a large, glossy booklet from a pile on the table and held it open in Jihoon’s line of sight.

He quickly flipped over a few pages, colors flying past the younger man’s eyes until the top page read _December_. The photo for the month featured Taehyung grinning and a guy with big eyes and soft features smiling sweetly. They both wore elf costumes and sat in front of a decked-out Christmas tree. At the top right corner of the photo, the sub-heading read: _Kim Taehyung, Recruitment Officer & Hong Jisoo, Secretary – 30th_. As Jihoon looked over the well-made calendar, he noticed two gold stars in the box for the 30th day. He smiled.

“Wow…it looks so pretty,” admitted Jihoon. “Sounds like a lot of fun, hyung.” Taehyung, as he remembered, was an eccentric guy and seemed to enjoy trying out different things, so the fact that this club had a variety of activities made Jihoon happy for him. And the ‘random shit’ sounded especially like Taehyung, to be honest; the sophomore probably didn’t have to fake the grin he wore in the calendar photo.

Taehyung set the calendar down. “Yeah, it really is,” he sighed happily. “Anyways, what about you? Have any clubs reeled you in so far?”

  
“Mm…I don’t know.” At that moment, Jihoon became acutely aware of the weight of the stack of flyers and brochures in his hand. In his heart, he knew that almost all of them would end up in the recycle bin. He just wasn’t good at saying no when people were offering things with this special mix of hope and determination in their eyes. “But, um, I was wondering if maybe my ears are cute enough?”

The dance team, glee club, thespian society, and fashion club (even though the girls sitting at that particular table had eyed him strangely when he talked to them) were the only things remotely on Jihoon’s radar. 

  
Until now.

He couldn’t deny that the Cute Ear Society, although it left a peculiar first impression due to its name and nature, sounded like a fun and surprisingly normal club. And, okay, there were also some lingering feelings of idolization towards Taehyung. Although a year had passed since they’d last attended the same school, meeting him so suddenly like this made Jihoon feel 18 years old again: small, naïve, and anxious. Wouldn’t it be fun to follow this hyung a bit more, to have Taehyung take him under his wing?

Taehyung blinked at his dongsaeng. “Oh, Jihoonie…” he started, thinking over his words carefully. “They are, but the thing is, you’re normal-eared. Our mandate states that we can only accept those whose ears are big. Or flared out.”

Jihoon felt like he’d been deceived. “Oh? Then why isn’t this called the _Big and Flared_ Ear Society?”

“Think about it. It doesn’t roll off the tongue quite like _Cute Ear_ , does it?” Jihoon nodded at him but still frowned nonetheless; it wasn’t just a name, it was false advertisement! As if reading the younger’s thoughts, Taehyung elaborated, “So, the overarching theme is that big and flared ears _are_ cute ears. Like, y’know. Empowerment and self-love and whatnot.”

“Right. I get it, it’s a great concept,” Jihoon said, yet wasn’t able to wash the dejected tone from his voice. “So-“

“Sorry, I gotta take this!” Taehyung spoke quickly as his gaze honed in on something in the distance. Jihoon was thoroughly confused - instead of answering a phone call or something to that effect, the older man sped off, abandoning his post - until a black haired boy, practically oozing the word _freshman_ andwith ears protruding very clearly away from his head, came into Jihoon’s view. Taehyung was heading straight for him.

“There he goes again.” Jihoon turned back around and saw that the woman that had been managing the table alongside Taehyung was laughing as she looked after her colleague. She had her brown hair tied up, exposing prominent ears which were adorned with both earrings and shiny cuffs.

“Well, he is the Recruitment Officer. He’s committed to his position, I guess.”

She hummed in agreement. “I’m glad we have him, he really gives it his all. I’m Kang Seulgi, the club’s Vice President. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Oh, nice to meet you! Uh…no, thank you, though. I’m fine.”

“Would you like to buy a calendar?” she asked. Not only were her eyes were hopeful and determined, but she was really pretty, too.

 

Needless to say, Jihoon was down ₩16,000.

 

+

 

Jihoon huffed as another strong pang hit him. He was still content with checking out clubs but since he skipped breakfast and hadn’t had lunch yet, his mood had begun to sour as his blood sugar continuously plummeted.

Cookies, cupcakes, and other sweet snacks were being offered by multiple clubs as incentives to walk up to their tables but Jihoon wanted salt and, if possible, something a bit more substantial. He backtracked and tried to remember where he’d seen the Cooking Club’s set up, speed-walking through the crowd that had swelled in size due to more students arriving in the quad during the afternoon.

 

The Cooking Club’s menu consisted solely of _really, seriously, damn spicy ramen, a challenge only for daring souls_ going for ₩6,500 a bowl. One of the guys working the table went into a promotional spiel, and Jihoon smiled through it until asked if he was at all interested in joining the club, to which the freshman politely declined. He admitted he just came to get noodles and the man laughed good-naturedly. “You should’ve just said so. I would’ve saved some breath.” He leaned in and asked, “Are you sure you want these ones, though? They’re no joke.”

Jihoon swallowed thickly as the hearty smell of the soup hit his nose. He was damn sure. _Damn spicy_ or not, Jihoon had to eat now or else risk having a mental break and tarnishing his image one month into the school year. “I’ll take one, please.”

“Seokjin, one!” the man called backwards. Another man stirring a pot a ways behind him picked up a Styrofoam bowl with his likeness on its side.

The ramen man handed the bowl to Jihoon as Jihoon handed him the money. “Do you have any milk on you?”

“Excuse me?”

“Milk. I named this ramen after how a friend of mine described it when I had him do a taste test. He’s funny, but he wasn’t just kidding around. It’s so intense. I don’t even know how I made it like this…but, well. At least it tastes good.”

“I don’t…have milk on me,” Jihoon said slowly. “Are you selling some?”

“No, and as this club’s president, I’m a failure for not having someone make flavored milk or something to go along with the heat.”

This guy was the president of the Cooking Club? Ramen man, who wore a pink apron and tended to the soup at the back of the stand, who looked as if he was primarily a member of Modeling Club, and who openly admitted his shortcomings, ran this club? He - Seokjin, Cooking Club President - sighed and added, “We do have water, though.”

Jihoon figured that’d have to do.

 

+

 

“Hey!” Woojin waved to someone he recognized. He was sure that this boy lived in his building and that they’d greeted each other a few times. It was confirmed when he got a polite wave back.

Woojin smiled and ambled over to where the boy sat on the grass, holding chopsticks and nursing a bowl of what was most likely ramen. He hoped he wasn’t coming off as annoying or too friendly, since they didn’t even know each other’s names.

“Ah, that looks good!” Woojin exclaimed as he stared into the other’s bowl of red soup, noodles, and egg pieces. “Where’d you get it? I’m so hungry.”

“Cooking Club,” the boy replied breathily, as if sucking in more air than needed.

“Okay, cool.” Woojin paused as he surveyed the bustling quad in front of them. “Would you mind pointing me in its general direction?” When he turned back to the boy, his pale face was fully flushed. “Um…are you alright?” he asked cautiously as he bent down to the boy's level, partly afraid to hear the answer.

The boy seemed to wince before answering, “No, actually. This ramen’s way too spicy.” He forcefully ran a hand through his strawberry-blonde hair. “I don’t suggest getting it.”

“Ah. Sorry about that, man.” Woojin sat on the lawn and almost sighed in relief knowing there wasn’t anything seriously wrong here. “But everyone’s spice tolerance is different, so maybe it wouldn’t be _that_ bad for me?”

The boy took a swig from his water bottle. “Dude, are you calling me weak?” he asked, sounding pained. By the way he fanned his mouth and sighed pathetically, it was clear he was being hurt by pepper, not Woojin’s words. Though it was likely that he _was_ a little annoyed at Woojin, as well - it was harder to read his face because the spice was making his features scrunch up.

“Um,” said Woojin.

“Fine, then. Just taste it and then decide if you want to waste your money.” The boy gathered a thin clump of noodles and jabbed his chopsticks out at Woojin’s mouth.

  
Woojin’s gaze wavered from the boy’s face to the chopsticks and back again for a few seconds. He felt an odd blush creep up his neck. It was a bit intimate for two people who hadn’t shared a proper conversation before today but the boy didn’t seem to care, so Woojin took a breath and slurped the noodles, not daring to make any eye contact as he did so.

 

Woojin hummed happily as he chewed. It was delicious!

 

And then the heat crept in. Carefully, quietly, it struck without warning.

 

His mouth transformed into the fifth ring of Hell.

 

+

 

Jihoon, seeming out of sorts and carrying a large, near-empty bottle of strawberry milk in one hand and a stack of variously sized handouts and booklets in the other, closed the dorm’s door and fell to his bed as if he were dead weight. Haknyeon smirked at him from across the room. “How’s your day been?”

“Fine,” answered Jihoon, voice muffled by his thick blanket.

“Have fun rolling around on the lawn with that guy?” When Jihoon sat up and faced him, Haknyeon wiggled his eyebrows.

Jihoon scoffed and looked as if he were about to question how and why Haknyeon had been watching him, but decided against it. “You mean Woojin? No, not at all. What you think was rolling around was actually us throwing ourselves around and convulsing in pain because of the extra spicy ramen we ate.”

“Sure. That’s what they _all_ say.”

“The cooking club is a fucking liability. Their president is a hot mess who tried to kill me. I suffered and there was nothing _‘do-do-do-doooo’_ about it, trust me.”

“Sure.”

“Why are we having this conversation? I don’t even like boys.”

“That’s what they _all_ say,” Haknyeon retorted, and it actually made perfect sense in the context of their lives. ‘They’ were all the boys who ever ogled Kim Taehyung more than ten separate times (since every student, personal factors notwithstanding, did a few times) in high school.

“Whatever. I don’t even know the guy.” 

“When has that ever stopped anyone? I don’t know half the people I’ve slept with; so what?”

The room went completely silent for a full minute.

“God –“ Jihoon muttered, just loud enough to be heard, “so that’s why people call you that.”

“Call me _what?_ ” Haknyeon asked, forgetting for a second that it wasn’t he whose feathers should be getting ruffled. His roommate’s smirk confirmed that he’d fallen perfectly into a trap, so he quickly blurted, “You know him enough to eat ramen together, no?”

At that, Jihoon rolled his eyes and sighed. He laid on his back and took out his phone. “Listen, it’s not like he’s cute or anything. So there, case closed.”

“I have eyes. Lying is a sin, sweetie.”

“Your whole existence is a sin, Joo Haknyeon.”

Haknyeon opened his laptop and didn’t argue.

 

 

After gushing about the b-boying performance and convincing Jihoon to promise to at least audition for the dance team with him, Haknyeon fell into a deeply satisfying nap and missed his math class at 4:30. Again.

 

Just another day in the life of someone trying (and failing) to be a responsible, self-sufficient adult for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> indeed, the case is busted wide open
> 
>    
> hey there thanks for being interested in this mess! real quick though i need your input on something important:
> 
> assuming jihoon is telling the truth, what are people calling haknyeon?


End file.
